


Make Up Mafia

by spicywaffles



Category: TWICE (Band)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-03
Updated: 2017-12-03
Packaged: 2019-02-09 23:55:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 12,951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12899592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spicywaffles/pseuds/spicywaffles
Summary: A Twice fanfic about a world of corruption, homicide and feminist revolution.Having spent years scheming and recruiting an army of women, SANA now heads MAFIA - an underground counterfeit cosmetics syndicate that is circulating almost as much money as a petrochemical megacorp. But MAFIA is more than a multi-million cosmetic cartel, MAFIA is out for the blood of abusive fathers, obsessive boyfriends and cheating husbands.Meanwhile the National Crime and Syndicate Bureau (NCSB) has caught on to a trail of unnatural deaths. JEONGYEON, the Head Investigator in the Fraudulent Activities Department (FAD) and her junior assistant, DAHYUN, endeavours to tear down this murderous criminal scheme.





	1. Corpus Delicti

It was the sort of morning accompanied by acoustic guitar playing in the background while office workers line up for their first dose of caffeine. A morning for fake smiles and first impressions.

Dahyun stood in the line, grinning with a tremor in her lower lip. The last time she’s been this nervous and excited was when they were about to disseminate the score reports for her Criminal Investigations Examination. Now it was finally her first day at work. After 2 years and 3 months of training, her multiple certs were going to mean something.

She wasn’t the type to glorify civil service and look down on regular private sector workers. But standing there between people with their eyes glued to excel sheets on their iPhones, knowing that her life was going to be so different from theirs, there was a bit of the pride and honour that the recruitment centre had always blabbered about. So instead of acoustic guitar, she was blaring punk rock in her red headphones.

But detective or not, she wasn’t exempt from the mandatory first-day-of-work coffee run. She wondered what her new boss’ standard order would be. Going with the safest option should be good enough.

“Two Café Lattes. Tall. Take away. I’ll pay by card.”

The National Criminal and Syndicate Bureau (NCSB) sat in the heart of the central district. A traditional building with grey walls and dirty blue windows. Investment bankers and dirty lawyers walked right past and paid no attention. Dahyun practically skipped past the sliding glass doors.

The receptionist issued her a security pass and directed her to the seventh floor. “Fraudulent Activities Department”. The office smelt of mothballs and was arranged in an open concept, a new fad in the civil service sector, to save on desk dividers and to make sure employees couldn’t take a snooze after lunch. It wasn’t hard to find the second largest corner office that read “Head Investigator, Yoo Jeongyeon”.

Right outside the office was a cubicle with neat racks of perfectly organised and colour-labelled folders. The stationery were also colour arranged. There were no photos, personalised mugs, or any indicator of its user having a trace of personal identity. There, Yoo Jeongyeon’s trusted secretary sat at her desk, typing away furiously. She had large, double-lidded eyes, wore a bold indigo knee-length sundress with a mild smirk that seemed to be her default expression.

“Morning-” Dahyun begins.

“Mm.”

“I am-”

“The new kid. Kim Dahyun. First Class Honours from Ewha Womens University. Got your CIE certification 2 weeks ago. Got an immediate posting here, which means you impressed the board. No family in law enforcement, which means you got in on merit. Your parents opened a BBQ restaurant in Myeongdong 3 years ago and the jokbal there is brilliant. Yes I know you. Now, do you want to know me?”

The secretary said all this with her eyes still on the screen.

“Um. Yes.”

“I’m Jihyo. The best secretary in the building and probably in the district. And your life saviour for the rest of the time you spend here. Which might not be long if you’re no better than the rest who came before you.”

“Good morning, Jihyo. And thank you for taking care of me, in advance. Is it ok if I wait inside?”

Jihyo completed a sentence on her laptop before finally looking up. She peered at the two coffees in Dahyun’s hands for a split second before making eye contact.

“Two coffees. One already with your lipstick stain on it. The other obviously for the boss. You didn’t think a Head Investigator would have a secretary?”

“I- I’m sorry, I overlooked-”

Jihyo waved a hand and went back to her laptop, saying, “Whatever. But you’re gonna have to minimise your overlookings if you wanna stay. You can wait inside.”

“Right. Sorry.”

“And I take a tall soy latte. Jeongyeon takes Iced Americanos except when they start the Christmas menu. Then she takes the gingerbread frappe.”

“I’ll keep that in mind, thanks for the tip.”

Dahyun entered, sat on the couch and sighed. Already messing up half an hour before work officially starts. Seems like NCSB isn’t much different from any other office life either. She fiddled with her papers for about 15min before the glass door opened again.

Yoo Jeongyeon stood at the door, looked at her for a split second before continuing to her desk, saying, “Jihyo, who is in my office?”

“Your new assistant. I told you about this 3 times.”

“I said I don’t do babysitting. Send the trainee away.”

Dahyun sprung from her seat, “Assistant, ma’am, not trainee. I’m qualified in every aspect and ready to work with you on whatever case you have.”

“‘Qualified’…” Jeongyeon barely looked over, “I don’t need qualifications girl I just need to not have to waste my time cleaning up after anyone.”

“You won’t have to. I have had experience understudying other detectives before. Ma’am, I am ready and I promise I won’t be a burden.”

“You’re experienced??? Darling your headphones are hanging out the back of your backpack which means you used them on your way to work which means you are neither experienced enough to have made enough enemies who would sneak up on you with a bottle of acid, nor experienced enough to have the sense to look out for your own safety on the streets.”

“Ma’am, with all due respect, my habits are no indication of my abilities to get things done. You can’t possibly count ‘having enemies’ as a necessary requir-”

“Do you know why detectives have it harder than spies? Because their identities are _public _. If you can’t keep yourself safe, you would barely keep up with me.”__

____

“Try me.”

____

Jeongyeon sighed. Then reached for pin board behind her. She throws a few laminated photographs on the desk before Dahyun. “20 seconds. Tell me what you know.”

____

Dahyun sifts through the photographs. A village house, metal gates, rusty bicycle chained to the entrance, vegetation all around.

____

“Safe house. Top right hand piping is fitted with a floodlight. Motion detector. The bicycle is weird. The bicycle stand is rusty and bent but it’s still standing upright. Should be connected to a trip wire." 

____

“Basic stuff. What else?”

____

“The windows aren’t just dirty, the sunlight doesn’t reflect naturally. One-way glass, most likely. Rooms are concealed. Tire marks around the bend into the driveway are inconsistent, different sizes. This house is visited by multiple vehicles, so not government probably. Most government personnel would drive the standard Honda.”

____

“Elementary. Don’t waste my time.”

____

“A few of the tracks ran up the curb. It’s an intentionally hard bend and not all the visitors know the place well.”

____

“Don’t. Smoke. Me.”

____

“Potted shrouds on the left of the entrance are dead around the middle, the leaves around the edges were still alive. Something is buried in the middle, most likely corrosive.”

____

Jihyo had stopped typing at her desk and was listening in to the show. Jeongyeon’s face betrayed no visible reaction.

____

Dahyun took a step back and her shoulders relaxed, “I’ve passed haven’t I?”

____

Jeongyeon sighed. “You are right. This safe house was blown up last night. Residual acidic liquid was found around those plants you correctly pointed out. Body at the entrance, just identified by Forensics this morning.”

____

“So who was he? Or she?”

____

“He. You’ll come with me now to examine the body. Then we go to the safe house.” Jeongyeon walked out without another word.

____

Dahyun rushed to grab her things and was about to follow when Jihyo reached out for her files. “I’ll settle these and the in-processing for you.”

____

“Thanks Jihyo, does that mean I got the job though?”

____

“I don’t know. Why don’t you tell me later?” She winked and gave Dahyun an encouraging smile. “Run along now.”

____

Dahyun finally smiled, thanked Jihyo yet again, and rushed after Jeongyeon to the lift lobby.

____


	2. Fear Appeal

The roads were getting wider as Nayeon drove further and further away from the village farmhouses of Busan. The pre-programmed GPS that had been mailed to her together with the unknown invite had been silent for a good hour since she had left the railroad station. Her destination was a supposed mansion of a Ms Minatozaki who seem to have bought over a piece of land even further away than the remotest inhabited parts of Busan. She googled around and found that this Ms Minatozaki was also the one who paid for the road she was now driving on to be paved all 22km from the railroad to her mansion.

Nayeon didn't know who she was meeting or why she was intrigued enough by the package she received to agree to such a dubious invite. The package told her nothing except that it was a rather rewarding job offer and to follow the GPS sent with the package to Ms Minatozaki's residence for a brunch meeting. And now that she had mentally revisited the contents of the package she realised how much this entire situation looks like a sex trade scam. Everything about this was stupidly reckless; she could be kidnapped and shipped to China and nobody would hear her scream.

No. Not nobody. She told her younger brother Kyungwan about every little detail and carried in her tampon pack another GPS tracker so he would know where she was every step of the way. He'd come get her if she wasn't back by late noon. And Kyungwan would never let anything happen to her.

The drive into the Minatozaki Mansion was quiet and elegant. A Europeanesque cobbled driveway with autumn shrubs lining the way in. A chauffeur was there to take her car to parking while an older man (the..butler? They still have those?) showed her to the marbled lift lobby.

"This way, Ms Nayeon. Ah, Ms Momo is here on time as well, she will show you the way to the banquet hall." Nayeon nodded and swallowed her awe. She's out of her league here and has no idea what is going on. This is dangerous and Nayeon doesn't like to deal with dangerous when she has no idea what is going on.

In front of the elevator stood a stunning young girl with subtly dyed electric blue shoulder-length hair. She was in a black sports bra and yoga pants the colour of lava. When she swung around to look at Nayeon, there was a naughty twinkle in those huge eyes. 

"Welcome," she smirked at Nayeon, "the GPS worked fine then since you found your way here alright."

The girl was rude and informal and Nayeon didn't know if she should be polite (she did still remember that she was here for a job offer) or if she should assert confidence. 

She decided to go with cold and cautious.

"Yes it worked fine. Do you live here? I didn't see anyone driving on the same road."

"Oh no I hate this place. Too prominent, too easy to find," the girl seemed to have a silent giggle beneath every word she spoke. 

"I'm Momo. I work for Sana. And you didn't see me because I ran here."

"You..What? You.. _ran _here?"__

____

Another smirk. "Morning jogs are good for the body."

____

"The nearest station is 22km away?!" Nayeon swept her eyes up and down Momo, completely forgetting the whole "cold and cautious" plan. She looked at the light sheen of perspiration on Momo's toned arms and abs, "how are you not drenched if you just ran a half marathon?"

____

Momo giggled, audibly this time, "would you _like _to see me drenched?"__

______ _ _

Nayeon turned away from her quickly. Her eyes fell on the wall and realised the lift button wasn't lit up. "You forgot to press the lift button."

______ _ _

"I didn't forget."

______ _ _

There was silence for a moment as Nayeon counted the numbers near the ceiling. "4". "3". "2".

______ _ _

"You first," Momo dramatically waved her in with a playful little bow. When they have both entered, she pressed "4".

______ _ _

"There's a techique in the Aiki school of Japanese martial arts. You pace your breathing and lung expansion to control your sweat glands. Samurai warriors practice it to reduce sweat production. It helps them hold on to their swords better in endurance fights."

______ _ _

Nayeon was suddenly aware that she was alone in a lift with someone who could most likely kill her with the lift of a finger. "That's impressive. I assume you're the bodyguard."

______ _ _

Momo giggled again, "Oh sweetie I'm more than a bodyguard. We're here, in you go."

______ _ _

The banquet hall was a marble wonderland and the table was laid with plates of croissants, butter, and honey. At the far end sat a woman with dark red matte lipstick and her hair up in a puffy bun. She got up and approached Nayeon, bypassing her offered hand and going straight in for a tight hug.

______ _ _

"Welcome dear, I'm Sana. We can talk about the package over these croissants, they were shipped in last night! Ah Momo you ran again. Well I don't have to invite you to the table do I?"

______ _ _

Nayeon sat firmly and rearranged her demeanour again. This was business. First rule of business is not to get thrown off no matter what tricks they pull.

______ _ _

Momo dug right into the croissants, buttering them noisily. Nayeon took a small nibble before looking back up at Sana.

______ _ _

"Ms Minatozaki, I'm grateful for this wonderful setup but what am I really here for?"

______ _ _

Sana wiped her lips, took a sip of Chardonnay before addressing her. 

______ _ _

"A job offer, Nayeon. I happen to need someone with your expertise and experience. Now, you are here so I can explain to you my business properly. But you are also here because you haven't agreed to work for me so before I have that guarantee, there is a limit to what I can disclose today. I need your consideration for that."

______ _ _

"What is your business?"

______ _ _

"Well in paper, my business is an investment company in the cosmetics industry. We predict the market, buy and sell shares, fund marketing projects. The usual."

______ _ _

"In paper. I suppose I'm here for the parts of the company that are _not _in paper, right?"__

________ _ _ _ _

Sana smiled, "you are right. My company is legally registered, well sort of legally registered, as _Minatozaki & Co. _, but my real business.. is called MAFIA," she announced with a little dramatic flair.__

__________ _ _ _ _ _ _

"That's not a very not-suspicious name is it," said Nayeon. Momo snorted beside Sana.

__________ _ _ _ _ _ _

"Well, no it isn't, but a little taste for drama is good for morale don't you think?"

__________ _ _ _ _ _ _

Sana continued, "MAFIA is a project that has been circulating counterfeit cosmetic products in legal and underground markets for about 6 years and we've built up quite a fair amount of reserves."

__________ _ _ _ _ _ _

Sana had gotten up and was pacing up and down the dining table, belting out a well-rehearsed speech, "We're primed to move on to the next stage in the project but we need someone who knows the industry inside out AND someone who can up the ante on production. Make our goods more detailed, perfect, failsafe."

__________ _ _ _ _ _ _

Sana turned and placed her white delicate hands on the back of her mahogany chair, lightly tapping her manicured fingernails, "Im Nayeon. First worked in Design for _Palette Industries _, prototyped their two-layer _Gloss-Matte SheenShine _lip swatches, that was eventually not credited to you, for reasons that.. well.. you know I know. Because I do my homework."____

_____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Nayeon sat motionless. Ms Minatozaki did do her homework, and she wasn't happy about it.

_____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

"After whatever fiasco hit you and your career in 2012, you were transferred to Finance and given a crappy cubicle. You manage the files now. But that too, makes you useful to me. An insider with first hand knowledge of the financial lifeline of Palette, the biggest shark in our tiny ocean."

_____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

"Alright, I get it. You did a background check on me. But if your background check was thorough enough you'd also know I have a brother in college with a shit ton of tuition fees and _Palette _is paying me.. well not a decent amount, but enough to keep him in school. So why should I risk my status as a not-criminal and my rather stable income for whatever it is you do?"__

_______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

"Oh I know about your brother. I also know you're not supporting his tuition fees.. _Palette Industries _is. And the reason they're doing that is to keep both of you quiet about the batch of "collagen" pills that he stole from your workshop back in 2012, sold online and which then killed a woman." Nayeon was now frozen to her seat, glaring at Sana wordlessly.__

_________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

"See I don't want to use this as leverage against you. I know you're stuck in that place because _Palette _could scapegoat your brother anytime they want and keeping you underneath them will protect their rep. I want to give you a way out. Heck I want to give you a chance to destroy the company that stole you and your brother's life," Sana paused, "Because those pills weren't collagen pills were they? The poor woman took them and got so high she took her baby in her arms and jumped off the-"__

___________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Nayeon sprung from her seat, eyes glistening with hot tears barely clinging onto her lashes, "ENOUGH! You said you want me to work for you but this sounds more like a goddamn threat and I don't deal in conversations that make me look like a fool!"

___________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

"Nayeon you are not a fool. If you were, you wouldn't be sitting here in my house eating my Swiss croissants."

___________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Nayeon stood silent again, chest heaving, mentally scanning through her options.

___________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

"Nayeon, I can't tell you now but MAFIA is more than a counterfeit scheme. We want more than that. We want to take down horrible companies and their asshole CEOs like the very one who destroyed your career. We want to free women from the men who underestimate and shit on them time and time again. This. Is the future."

___________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Nayeon squinted, things were even more confusing now. What really IS this MAFIA? But in the back of her head, the louder voice was saying, 'you have no choice'.

___________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

"Hypothetically, if I join, what's my pay cut."

___________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

"Hypothetically, if you join, it's 5% and incremental based on performance. Like any other company in our good meritocratic society."

___________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

"Hypothetically, you're asking me to spy on a company that could destroy my brother and I for your weird plan to take over the world or whatever it is, so 5% isn't enough."

___________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

"Hypothetically, _I _set the hypotheticals in _my _house. Not you."____

______________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Sana sighed, "Nayeon you may not trust me, but at the worst I would just be another conman like your boss from _Palette _. You have the choice of working for conmen in a place where dirty old men are always trying to get in your pants, or.. work for me"__

________________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

At this point the high airy voice of Momo rang out unexpectedly again, "Oh Sana, I wouldn't say nobody here would try to get in her pants though." As she giggled at Nayeon, her eyes twinkled with that dangerous gleam again.

________________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Nayeon sat back down in her chair and looked at her half bitten croissant. 

________________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

She sighed again and began, "What would my job scope entail?"

________________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _


	3. Backdoors

People tend to be insecure about using open networks. School learning portals, office servers, the free wifi at the airport. They think there are people watching. Which isn’t necessarily untrue. But the thing is… if you use these networks at the right time, there are usually so many users logged in that most people who are looking in wouldn’t know which user to pay attention to.

Chaeyeong practically only goes to school for the Internet access.

The student lounge at Kyungbok High School is a dusty large refrigerator with rows of old-fashioned HP computers. At lunch hour or just after the last period, the freezing lounge would nonetheless be filled with students cloaked in their lame class hoodies, rushing research projects or guarding bases in Dota 2. Sit yourself between a gamer and a student studying for her college entrance exam and, as long as your screen looks boring enough, nobody would bother you.

Chaeyeong sat down with some determination today. She had found a misconfiguration in JYQ Entertainment’s proxy server after some weeks of messing around. With some fiddle-diddle she should be able to get in by today. No more hacking into van rental companies to stalk her favourite girl group TW!CE.

Proxy servers are a sort of buffer that regulates interactions between users inside a secure internal network and the outside non-secure Internet. Every search request, login request, upload or download that is made inside an internal net would have to be “approved” by the proxy’s preconfigured regulations. All organisations use proxy servers and most of them don’t have IT guys who are good enough to set up a full-proof one.

For months since she had officially identified herself as a TW!CE stan (or, in other words, a ONES), Chaeyeong had been hacking into the van rental company employed by JYQE to ferry their idol groups between schedules. She tracked the car-plate numbers through insurance company vehicular listings and traced them back to their company. From their online van rental booking site, she ran a clever little code through their “Place an order” page which froze the website and fed back to her a whole list of recent bookings. With a simple elimination of publicly listed radio shows, music shows, filming schedules, etc., she got a rough idea of TW!CE’s undisclosed activities.

But schedules change unpredictably. And recently she realised that the van rental had finally had the sense to separate their online bookings from other regular rentals. For a few weeks now she had been relying on updates of TW!CE movements from fansites like a regular teenager – it was insulting. Now however, if she could really break through JYQE’s proxy, it would be an amazing hit.

After 20 minutes of fooling around, she found the loophole in the proxy. It led her to an inconspicuous staff portal. Using the “Help” function, she sent in a memo explaining that she was Im Soo Jin (an actual TW!CE manager that she had found beforehand) from Advertising and had trouble logging in to the company’s Outlook calendar. In a few moments she got a reply with a recovery link and she was in. There she had it all – Baek A-Young’s schedule on _King of Mask Singer _, Day9’s comeback date, 3PM’s next appearance on _Running Man _… and finally, TW!CE’s transition to Incheon Airport at 1730KST that very day.____

_____ _

“Touchdown…” the excited whisper left her lips before she could stuff a knuckle in her mouth. The girl beside her looked over and she quickly closed the window. After wiping the browser history on the school computer, she grabbed her things and rushed off.

_____ _

These were the sort of activities that constituted Son Chaeyoung’s pastime. As a child she aced every subject in school but quickly realised that doing well raised unwanted attention and unnecessary expectations. Since Grade 4, she started answering a few questions wrongly in assessments to scale back her test scores while secretly learning coding and phreaking methods in her own time. While she did have a love for K-pop girl groups, she stalked them partly for the fun of being able to do it better than anybody else.

_____ _

She arrived at Incheon Airport at around 1515. No fans were around yet and news had yet to leak on Twitter. She bought herself a drink, sat near the gates to the VIP Lounge and waited. Soon, small clusters of high school students started arriving with glossy banners. These were familiar faces, the more skilled and well-connected ONESes in the fanbase.

_____ _

As she casually scrolled through the mad flurry in the ONES Twitter community after rumours of TW!CE’s unannounced flight had leaked, a notification popped up. It was a message from Mina, her hacking mentor: _Are you at Incheon? ___

_______ _ _ _

She laughed silently as she replied: _Yes, why are you stalking me again Mina? ___

_________ _ _ _ _ _

_Because you tend to get in trouble when you’re cocky. And you’d 100% be cocky if you succeeded. ___

___________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

See, the thing about most people not knowing which user to look out for if they had bothered to look into crowded open networks such as Chaeyoung’s high school Intranet… Myoui Mina wasn’t most people. If Chaeyoung was Lebron James, Mina was Michael Jordan. Chaeyoung may have learnt a few smart tricks on her own but Mina, whom she met by chance encounter two years ago, taught her the real deal.

___________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Chaeyoung had previously shared with Mina that she was confident about a misconfiguration in the JYQE proxy, and Mina decided to poke into the same proxies to make sure there weren’t any red flags. Chaeyoung’s father was a party leader in Seoul and her mother a large shareholder in the cosmetics giant, _Palette Industries _. Her getting into trouble would be a PR disaster and Mina cared enough to be perpetually worried for her wellbeing.__

_____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Surveying the JYQE proxy, Mina didn’t find red flags. But she did uncover a literal bomb.

_____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

MN: _You need to leave Incheon now. Just leave. ___

_______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

CY: _What? What did you find? ___

_________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

MN: _Just get away first, I gave an anon tip-off to the police already but you need to leave. ___

___________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

CY: _Call me! ___

_____________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Chaeyoung was a stubborn kid and very much hated being the one who didn’t know what’s going on. But she trusted Mina. She grabbed her stuff and exited the airport as quickly as possible. The moment she stepped out of the glass doors, Mina’s call came in, “Are you out of the airport?”

_____________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Yes, what’s going on?”

_____________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Get in a cab now and get as far away from Incheon as possible. Don’t worry about TW!CE, if the police is notified the first people they’d reach is them.”

_____________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Fine, I’m in the taxi queue, will you tell me what’s going on?”

_____________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“While you were trying to breach into JYQE, I was tracking breaches into JYQE’s firewall to find you and also see if their system has more security redundancies than it looks. You know, just in case your careless ass overlooked something. I found two breaches, one from Kyungbok’s IP address and another one from somewhere else.”

_____________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“It wasn’t me, I only got in once.”

_____________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Yes but I thought you used some other IP address so I decided to hack the browser history from that user. And I found a whole lot of other shit. Whoever it is downloaded in-depth documents on homemade explosives.”

_____________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“What the fuck.”

_____________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“I went straight to the payphone to call the cops, they should have started airport lockdown by now.”

_____________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

As they spoke, armed soldiers milled into the airport and some stationed themselves by the entrances, stopping people at random for bag checks.

_____________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Mina… they’re going to trace this. They’ll suspect it was someone after TW!CE who got their hands on their schedule. They’ll check the JYQE firewall like you did and-”

_____________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Ok we’re going to hang up before you start looking too damn suspicious. Just stay calm and come to my place alright? We’ll sort this out.”

_____________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Mina’s place was a small flat in one of the high-rises of Yangcheon-gu, equipped with narrow living room, pantry and a small bedroom. Inside was a warzone of coding manuals, notepads full of unintelligible scribbles and, oddly, an array of penguin plushies (Mina had a very specific taste in soft toys).

_____________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

At the sound of Chaeyoung knocking, Mina pressed a key in her homemade remote control, which she programmed to automatically unlock her front door, as well as turn on/off her electronic kettle, washing machine, AC, television and printer.

_____________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Chaeyoung burst through the door and found Mina in an oversized purple hoodie, sitting cross-legged in her living room with three laptops before her.

_____________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Ok kid. So I don’t think we have to be worried about people dying at the airport because this dude’s an idiot. I looked at his Google search history and he actually typed “how to make a bomb” with a question mark at the end, so he’s probably already taken in for questioning if he hasn’t been scared away by all the security yet.”

_____________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Right yes, uhm, I care about peoples’ lives as well but what about the Kyungbok IP? My dad will slaughter me.”

_____________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Is there a CCTV in your school lounge?”

_____________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Yes but I sit in the blind-spot.”

_____________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Any interaction with anyone while you were inside?”

_____________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Girl beside me looked at me for a second.”

_____________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Mina sighed.

_____________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Oh come on they would find me if they traced back to Kyungbok anyway, even if the girl didn’t notice me! Would you stop doing that “you foolish idiot” thing with your eyes?!”

_____________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Alright I won’t.” Mina looked intently at Chaeyoung, “Here are the facts. There is no news of anyone being caught yet and it’s already past 1730 so the terrorist must have realised there was a tip-off and given up. If… this ends quietly the police will most probably look past this as a false alarm. They’d focus on tracking the tip-off instead but they won’t find anything because I used the payphone with a loop-around. So… this could go away.”

_____________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Chaeyoung knew what Mina meant, “But the terrorist goes free.”

_____________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Mina looked away, picking up a yellow penguin and toyed with its beak, “This is up to you kid.”

_____________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“You want me to go to the police and tell them what we found?? That’s practically confessing to cyber crime. My dad will kill me!”

_____________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Whoever he is, he’s after TW!CE. You want to do the right thing or not?”

_____________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Mina come on, there has to be some other way to stop him.”

_____________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“There could be, but we don’t know if there’s enough time, he could be a mad man for all we know.”

_____________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“TW!CE has security they’ll be safe for now and if the guy is an amateur like you said he would be too scared to try again for at least some time,” Chaeyoung paused, looking as if she was about to pull her hair out for getting into this stupid mess. “It’s almost the elections. I am not going to mess things up for my dad Mina. Help me stop this guy.”

_____________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Mina looked at this girl who was like a little sister to her. “Fine. I do have someone who can make things happen, but first, you need to help me find this asshole.”

_____________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Chaeyoung collapsed into a bunch of penguin plushies beside Mina and heaved a sigh of relief, “Thanks Mina.”

_____________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Her mentor shot her an angry glare, “I said this would happen if you kept being reckless and I was right. You better get your shit together.”

_____________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Chaeyoung swallowed back the retort in her throat, knowing that she deserved a lecture. She sat a blue penguin in her lap, picked up one of Mina’s laptop and got to work, “Ok mum, tell me what I need to do."

_____________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _


	4. Intent

One of the few weird things about Dahyun: she liked the smell of antiseptic in the hospital. Crisply clean, sharp to the nose, to her, this was the smell of safety. 

In the countless times that she had been alone at home with her younger sister when the poor girl had collapsed to another epileptic episode, Dahyun had always heaved a sigh of relief when the nurses pushed the bed through the white doors. The bang of those doors announced that someone else was now taking care of Soohyun and she could crumble into the hard plastic seats by the Emergency Care room, breathe in the cold sanitised air and stop being the adult for the rest of the night.

But take the elevator to Level 19, take a right turn, go down the long brightly lit corridor, and one would notice the smell of antiseptic become significantly heavier... and underneath it, the subdued stench of death.

This was the part of the hospital Dahyun didn't like.

Of course, she was dead familiar with it, having spent weekends here completing practical assignments for Fundamental Forensics. Now she was no longer a trainee. She was walking through that same corridor with a certified NCSB security pass swinging from her neck, tottering along to keep up with Jeongyeon's impressively long strides.

They took another right turn at the end of the corridor and went through the doors to a room of metal lockers and autopsy tables. Through another pair of doors, they found a middle-aged woman with wispy greying hair and long, steady fingers that were, at the moment, suturing up a neat 8-inch long gaping slit in a dead man's abdomen.

Dahyun couldn't help but wrinkle her nose at the smell of putrifying guts and fecal matter. Jeongyeon didn't even blink an eye.

"Good Morning, Dr Jung."

"Hello Jeongyeon," the pathologist said through her surgical mask, not moving from her crouched position over the body, "I was just finishing up my examination of his digestive system, I'm positive we can rule out ingested poison."

Dahyun was immediately confused and though she told herself she would keep to the backseat for her first field experience, she couldn't reign back her tongue in time, "Poison? Why are we looking for poison in a blast victim?"

Jeongyeon's professional expression only barely hid her exasperation. "Because you don't just look at a slice of cake covered in cream cheese and say it's carrot cake. You cut it open and see if it might be red velvet." Jeongyeon stalked over to the body on the table, blackened with splotches of red, "The same way you don't look at a burnt body and conclude that he died of burns."

Dr Jung chucked from beneath her mask. Dahyun pursed her lips and tried not to slap herself.

"Well, but what made you think of poison?"

"Come closer and look at his face."

Dahyun took two quick steps and bent over close, not bothering to put on a mask in her eagerness to show that she wasn't weak-stomached.

The blisters on the burnt face had settled into a patchwork of dried tissue. But it was easy to see the odd clue in the mess.

The deceased had lips the size of Taiwanese sausages and beneath the blackened skin was a shocking tinge of purplish blue.

"Poison."

"Yes Dahyun. Poison. I had specifically tasked Dr Jung here to personally handle all bodies that come through here with this same characteristic," Jeongyeon brushed a gloved finger over the swollen lower lip, "blue engorged lips."

"There have been others?"

"Yes. I have been tracing a trail of bodies for a few weeks now. All with these same lips and all having died of asphyxiation, as confirmed by Dr Jung's report earlier this morning," Jeongyeon passed Dahyun a khaki-coloured paper file which she thoroughly scanned through.

_Name: Bo Jung, Shin ___

____

_Age, Race, Gender: 044, A(SK), M ___

______ _ _

_Cause of Death: Asphyxiation ___

________ _ _ _ _

_Due to: Tracheal obstruction from unknown toxicological reaction ___

__________ _ _ _ _ _ _

"Did he die during the explosion or before? Was the corrosive source of the explosive the trigger?"

__________ _ _ _ _ _ _

"To your first question: during. To your second question: unlikely. My EO experts have already swept the debris and concluded that the corrosive matter is just modified Ammonium Nitrate and hardly concentrated enough to be fatal without ingestion. It was simply one of the booby traps in the safehouse which this man triggered, perhaps by accident, once _this _chemical," she pointed again at his lips, "took hold of him."__

____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

"How many victims have there been so far? Are we sure it's the same poison?"

____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

"Four. Dr Jung can prove it's the same compound, but she can't prove how it works," at this point Jeongyeon shot Dr Jung a tender glare.

____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Dr Jung sighed and looked up from her sutures, "I _am _trying you know. It's just never been seen before! All I know is it's sulfur based, not ingested, absorbed through skin and laced in lipstick."__

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Dahyun swivelled around, eyes widening, "Cosmetics! No wonder you're dealing with a homicide case! This is about the rip-off cosmetic case that you've been tracking!"

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

"You've done your homework reading up my cases," Jeongyeon offered a little praise, "I was following paper trails on bank transfers between suspected consumers of counterfeit cosmetics and a few anonymous offshore bank accounts when I traced down two of the suspected users who were called in by the Public Prosecutor for questioning and then released without prejudice."

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Jeongyeon pulled a metallic roller chair over and sat down before continuing, "The thing is they weren't called in for buying counterfeit products, most people don't look out for fake M.A.C lipsticks unless they work in my department," she took a breath before continuing, "they were called in for ongoing investigations on the unnatural deaths of two other men they were each involved in.

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

"For one of them, it was her fiancé. The other one, her colleague in an investment agency. I smelt something fishy about this double whammy and how BOTH were let go almost instantly by the PPO. So I went to Dr Jung to find the autopsy reports, and two other cases came up, not including our freshest corpse here."

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

"My God this is huge."

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

"Enough story-telling on my part. Now you fill in the blanks. Tell me, A+ student, what consists of the Triangle of Crime Theory?"

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Dahyun frowned at being talked down to like it was Lesson One of Criminology but answered anyway, "Intent, Target and Opportunity."

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

"And what's missing here?"

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

"Intent."

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

"Good, I'll tell you the answer for the first two cases I found: the first lady hired a private investigator to follow her fiancé a week prior to his death and had photos of him cheating on her with her sister. 

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

"The investment banker was close friends with her colleague who died and their last Instagram posts were both of them having fun drinking at a party in a VIP suite at Park Hyatt Hotel. She called in sick to work for a whole week after that party."

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

"He didn't..."

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

"She did go on to book an appointment at a sexual assault care centre. You'll soon find out how I found out but long story short I have my ways of tracing emails.

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

"Now, your first assignment: find me the suspect and the intent for these three other cases, starting with poor Blackey over here since his trail is fresh."

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

"I'm on it. But about this guy... you should have found out more info about him by now right?" 

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Jeongyeon squinted at her sneaky new assistant and how bold she was to try her luck, "I don't appreciate people trying to cut corners... But I'll give you the benefit of the doubt that you want to save time," Jeongyeon dug into her briefcase for another envelope, "These are his call logs which we thankfully managed to salvage from the damaged phone. 

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

"Inside you'll find a whole bunch of prepaid phone numbers and texts sent out to these numbers directing them to the address of the safehouse where we found him outside of. There are specific instructions on how to get into the house, how to avoid that trip wire you noticed before... and all ending with a line that says 'Enjoy your time with our girls.'"

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Dahyun nodded in understanding, "He ran a prostitution ring."

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

"That's for you to verify."

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

"Right, thanks for the opportunity Ma'am, I appreciate your trust in me. But... forgive me for asking, isn't there a bigger picture here? The link in the Triangle of Crime Theory between Opportunity and Target... is Weapon. And if the weapons here are the counterfeit lipsticks and someone's getting money from other people's revenge crimes, they're sure to do it again. Shouldn't we be tracing the counterfeiters to prevent more murders?"

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

"You're sharp Dahyun, but there's a reason why you're an assistant and I'm Head Investigator. I'm handling the 'bigger picture' side of the house for now until you've proven your worth. Why don't you run along?"

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Dahyun didn't bother to argue. Might as well get her homework done quickly enough to impress her boss than to waste more time. She grabbed the folders, gave a slight bow to Dr Jung and left.

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Dr Jung had finished up with her body and turned to her long-time friend, "You already trust your new girl, don't you?"

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

"I'm humouring Jihyo, she's been complaining about having to do more work than her secretarial pay pays her to because I don't like to take assistants."

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Dr Jung laughed and said, "Oh Jeongyeon, the day you care more about not bullying that poor secretary of yours than to make sure your work is done right is the day I'd retire. You've never entrusted a junior to find out things on their own for your cases before, especially not for a case of this scale when your promotion is hanging on the line."

______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Jeongyeon looked at Dr Jung, her professional demeanour softening, "Fine, Jung, I gave in because I'm getting tired. I'm starting to find it _really _hard to believe that climbing this goddamn ladder is for good and not just because I'm already so far up that I don't want to waste the years of my life spent in NCSB.__

________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

"This new kid, she's still at the bottom of the ladder. She still knows why she chose to do this. Maybe I'm just curious but there's something special in her that makes me think it's worth trying."

________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

"Oh darling I'd pat you on the back if my glove isn't covered in shit and blood," Dr Jung smiled so widely at her friend that the cheerful wrinkles stretched from beneath her surgical mask, "but for what it's worth Jeongyeon, I think this kid is going to be very good for you too."

________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _


	5. Night Jobs

A city shouldn't be judged by her tallest buildings. She should be judged by her abandoned ones. Those silent blocks tell a story of money laid to waste, companies gone bankrupt, workers left unpaid. Most of the time, they wouldn't even have the money to call for a demolishment. The government would take it back and pretend to have plans for it, but really that's when you know the building is free for rats for at least another decade or so.

Mina knew all the deserted buildings in Seoul. With no security, and usually not charted on new maps, these buildings were a safe haven. And if she were lucky, close enough to a street router for her to get dangerous work done in quiet. 

Or to arrange for a secret meet-up.

At the rooftop of one such building in the grimy streets of Yeongdungpo, Mina stood by the dirty parapet and let the night breeze brush against her fringe. The sky looked like an overturned decanter of the darkest wine and the wind had a similar intoxicating fogginess to it - a scene that she would have appreciated if she had been in an easier mood. 

Tonight, she dug her nails into her palms and bit her lip. This wasn't a meeting that she was particularly excited about. Old acquaintances should stay in the past as far as her rule book went and if Chaeyoung hadn't screwed things up she wouldn't be claiming this favour from an old friend who owed her one.

Mina didn't hear the soft padding of feet until someone who smelt of fresh grass and roast pork was breathing softly down her neck. She spun around with a sharp intake of breath and raised her fist in reflex, which Momo caught by the wrist and gently, but firmly, pushed away.

"You really like it rough, don't you?"

Mina glared at that signature smirk and shook her arm free, "Do you not give verbal indications before sneaking up on someone."

"Then that wouldn't count as sneaking would it?" Momo lightly propped herself onto the parapet and with her slender fingers hooked firmly to the edge, leaned backwards over the void, 164ft from the ground, legs swinging without a care.

"Great choice of location for a first date, I must say. Although you did arrange it about five years late."

"Not a date. Also can you at least sit properly. I'm not interested in becoming a murder suspect if you fall off."

"I don't fall. You can hear the cars in the street better from out here, it's beautiful, you should try."

Mina sighed. She was exactly the same brazen girl she had met five years ago. 

Momo had gotten into a tight spot in Japan back then and, through certain connections, came to know of Mina's part-time services. She paid a decent amount for Mina to get her across the borders with fake IDs but their planned two-day journey under the disguise as Myoui sisters was further complicated by unforeseen interventions. Through being chased from Tokyo to Osaka by the Yakuza, hitchhiking across Kyoto and saving a stray dog along the way, Mina proved herself a useful companion in more ways than one, eventually getting both of them safely to South Korea. For her help, Momo had promised her a favour that she could claim at any time in the future, so long as she was still alive and contactable.

"I'm here to claim what you promised me. I found a man who's up to some bad business and I need you to scare him enough so he would back off and never try anything again. This should be a piece of cake for you."

"Oh is a big bad bear after my little penguin?" Momo sneered as she reached and tucked a little stray strand of brown hair from Mina's messy ponytail behind her ear.

Mina slapped her hand away, and said, "This is serious, he's up to stuff that could kill hundreds of people and I don't know how much time we have."

"A terrorist? I never thought you'd be the altruistic sort?"

"Yes I care about innocent lives, is that a crime to you?"

"I can tell when people hide things from me why do you even try."

"Listen, you offered your help and I'm taking it, are you going to make good on your promise or not?"

"You made a mistake didn't you? The invincible, meticulous, careful Myoui Mina made a mistake," Momo paused and squinted, "No, no... You don't make mistakes... You're protecting someone."

"I'm not-"

"Who? Are you romantically involved? A man or a woman? I mean I always thought you were gay but it's possible that you're also-"

"It is not like that! And even if it is, I am NOT obligated to explain anything to you," she held out a yellow post-it note before Momo, "this is the man's address, will you do it or not?"

Momo smirked again and wrapped her warm, firm hand, finger by finger, around Mina's outstretched one, slowly sliding down the length of the veins, her slender fingers, those smooth crescent nails, before plucking the post-it note from between her index finger and thumb. 

"Anything for my little penguin. But only this once. I don't do things for free."

Mina let her arm drop and wiped the back of her hand on her jeans to remove that tingling sensation from Momo's unwanted touch. "Of course, you only owe me once."

"Are you sure you want to waste your one-time-use Momo card on something so trivial?"

"Absolutely, you just do your job and keep tabs on this guy. But I _swear _to you," Mina leaned in closer and mustered her best threatening voice, "if anything goes wrong and he does anything funny, I'd make sure to send a little gift to the Yakuza and you can prepare to sharpen your knives."__

____

Without even the slightest change in the smirk on her face, Momo closed the gap between them to slightly less than half an inch, and breathed, "You of all people would know that would be a stupid move."

____

Mina stepped back. 

____

"I keep my word Mina, you don't have to worry about this man ever again." Momo hopped off the parapet, stuffed the post-it note in the pocket of her tight leather pants and started walking away.

____

In about five steps, she turned around again and asked, "Wait you haven't told me about Ray."

____

Ray was the stray dog they had saved from a ditch together back in Kyoto. Mina had decided then to keep him with her.

____

She was quiet for a bit. "His kidneys stopped holding up. I sent him off last month."

____

For the first time that night, Momo dropped her smirk and looked genuinely concerned, "I'm sorry, he must have meant something to you."

____

Mina looked up in shock at Momo's unexpected expression of emotion. Seeing her reaction, Momo quickly wiped her face clean and restored her usual sneer, "Since you're always tragically lonely and incapable of connecting with humans that is."

____

With that she spun on her heels and walked off again. "Call me if you change your mind about that date, that wouldn't be a favour," she said as she waved without a backward glance.

____

\--------------------

____

With a small cardboard box tucked between her arm and the curve of her waist, Momo adjusted her cap and stepped out of the lift on the 16th floor. She had changed into a boring blue polo tee and was wearing a lanyard around her neck that actually held a small coupon which read "Your next pizza is free if we delivered this one cold!"

____

Mina's post-it directed her to unit #16-07. She positioned herself away from the peephole and pressed the bell. When she heard the lock clicked, she said, "Package for Mr Kim?"

____

"What? I'm not expecting anything?"

____

"You Mr Kim Joon Sung?"

____

"Yes but-?"

____

"Then you just need to sign here," Momo reached for her breast pocket and took out a ballpoint pen, pushing it towards Mr Kim as he instinctively reached forward. 

____

Then, in one swift movement, she yanked his head down with her hands interlocked behind his neck, drove her knee into his solar plexus, and jammed the tip of the ballpoint pen into the cervical plexus at the base of his jaw. He immediately falls to her feet, completely limp, yet eyes still staring widely and swivelling around in fear.

____

Momo picked up the empty box that had fallen to the floor, threw it into the rubbish chute before stepping over him into his flat. She proceeded to drag him in by the legs and sat him upright on his couch. She went to his fridge, rummaged around for a beer before returning and plopping herself on a chair opposite him.

____

"You know if I pushed that pen 1mm deeper, you would never see, talk, hear or swallow your spit ever again. I'd just topple a shelf over you right now with my gloved hands and make it look like a domestic incident. And the world would never have to deal with nonsense scum like you."

____

She took a swig from the can and with the sweetest smile, continued, "But I didn't, see, I think you might still deserve the slightest chance of living. So let me tell you what I want from you."

____

She walked over to the open laptop on the table which showed a bunch of diagrammatic plans on its screen, and reached under the table for a box full of metallic parts and wires. Toeing the box, she quietly said, "You're gonna burn this box of amateur fuckery, then..." she reached behind her and picked up the laptop, "STOP-" smashed the laptop over her knee- "MESSING-" _smash _"WITH-" _smash _"THIS-" the screen dislodges from the keyboard- "SHIT!" Momo flung the screen across the room which hit Mr Kim on the shoulder before falling over the couch in several other pieces.____

_______ _ _ _

Mr Kim's limp body slowly tilted to one side and started to slide down the couch. Momo walks to him and wiped away a tear that had started to slowly trickle down his terrified yet expressionless face. She roughly yanked him upright again and drew out a small shiny swiss army knife from her back pocket, tracing the gleaming tip from his chest, down to his stomach... and even further down...

_______ _ _ _

"Men's balls, Mr Kim," with the knife, Momo twisted a little hole into the fabric by his zipper, the denim giving way to his bright green underwear, "cut like butter."

_______ _ _ _

Her eyes not looking away from his, shining with tears, "You wouldn't want to try would you?"

_______ _ _ _

Momo paused for a few seconds to let her little speech sink in before releasing her grasp on his now soaked T-shirt and sheathing her knife. 

_______ _ _ _

"I hope I made my point Mr Kim. Because I have friends too, and if I have to come back... they're coming with me." Momo took out the ballpoint pen again and roughly jabbed it into the crevice behind his jaw. Mr Kim came back to life and gasped like a fish out of water.

_______ _ _ _

"You'll find it hard to get out of bed and to urinate for at least a week. Then things will go back to normal. And I won't ever need to come back unless you decide to be a naughty naughty boy. If you let even a word of this get out..."

_______ _ _ _

Hyperventilating into the floor and whimpering in pain, he managed to make himself mumble, "I- I won't-"

_______ _ _ _

"Great! See ya!" Momo exclaimed with a high-pitch giggle and left for the door. As she waited for the lift, she realised she had missed her second dinner that night, having rushed over to Yeongdungpo to meet Mina and coming straight here to handle this nonsense.

_______ _ _ _

"Ugh I'm going to order a whole pig."

_______ _ _ _

\--------------------

_______ _ _ _

A week later, Mina was at home rolling herself a spam kimbap when Chaeyoung paid her a visit again. "Hey Min- oh my god can you make me one too I'm starving!"

_______ _ _ _

"Why don't you get yourself some regular friends and learn to be socially functional."

_______ _ _ _

"You hardly have the rights to say that to me, also I do have friends, kind of. But Tzuyu's busy today."

_______ _ _ _

Mina took out another roll of seaweed and a scoop of rice from the rice cooker as Chaeyoung went to the bedroom to fetch her laptop.

_______ _ _ _

"Mina why is your window open it's about to ra- OH MY GOD!!!"

_______ _ _ _

Mina threw down her spoon and ran to the bedroom, "What?! What?!"

_______ _ _ _

Chaeyoung had squatted down and was picking up a tiny Japanese spitz puppy from a little cardboard box by her open window. "When the hell did you get a puppy and not tell me??"

_______ _ _ _

Mina bent over the box and picked up a yellow post-it note from the bottom, saying under her breath, "I- I didn't..."

_______ _ _ _

_It's female. Name this one "Dubu" won't you? It's cute and it fits her fur colour... also "Ray" was a stupid name. ___

_________ _ _ _ _ _

Mina folded the note up and ran her fingers through the puppy's fine, snowy white fur. The adorable pup turned her tiny head around and nibbled at Mina's ponytail with her baby teeth.

_________ _ _ _ _ _

Mina felt a thumping in her chest that she hadn't felt since she lost Ray. She picked up Dubu from Chaeyoung's arms and buried her nose into her fur. 

_________ _ _ _ _ _

She smelt of fresh grass and roast pork.

_________ _ _ _ _ _


	6. Tacts and Tactics

Nayeon always did well. She honestly did. She graduated _magna cum laude _in Pharmaceuticals and Cosmetic Science, had a well-polished resume boasting eleven internships over four years with research institutes and the biggest brands (including _Procter & Gamble _and _Shiseido _), prototyped three original products within seven months of joining _Palette _. She was a freight train of success.________

_____ _

So understandably, moments like this really had her wondering – how the fuck did she end up like this: wearing yesterday’s ketchup-stained blouse because she stayed overnight clearing up backlog for her slave-driving company, using her lunch hour for an illicit moonlighting visit to her other new company, and being given an introductory tour by her cocky new boss’ school uniform-clad little sister.

_____ _

“How old are you again?”

_____ _

The tall wavy-haired doe-eyed girl looked at her expressionlessly. “Eighteen.”

_____ _

“Eighteen… don’t you have school? I mean surely there are other employees who can show me around?”

_____ _

“You’re offended that my sister sent a schoolgirl? Trust me, this is a gesture of respect. And also because she doesn’t want you interacting with irrelevant people unnecessarily, you do remember that you’re a mole?”

_____ _

“There are better... um... synonyms for that…”

_____ _

“Double agent? Insider trader?” Tzuyu Minatozaki was a serious, stony-faced girl who did not act her age. She had her sister’s grace and commanding presence, without the enigmatic theatricality and angst. Her face was a mask of calm, her words sharp and concise.

_____ _

“Level 6 to 8 are the research labs, Level 9 and 10, marketing and analysis, Level 12 is my sister’s penthouse office-suite. You don’t really need to go there, or anywhere actually.”

_____ _

Tzuyu led her down the grey-carpeted corridor to an empty conference room and opened the door for her.

_____ _

“I’m going to assume I won’t have a desk?”

_____ _

“You won’t need one. Unless absolutely necessary, you won’t show up at _Minatozaki & Co. _, your job doesn’t require you here. Today’s tour is just a formality, in case you ever need to look for anyone.”__

_______ _ _ _

Tzuyu waved her to a roller chair as she sat opposite her across the oval conference table, “We called you in mainly to explain to you your first assignment.

_______ _ _ _

“You would, of course, know that _Palette Industries _would soon be undergoing a major shuffling in their directorial board because the incumbent Senior Director is retiring.”__

_________ _ _ _ _ _

“That’s not yet public information, but it would be in slightly more than a month, they’ll call the shareholders’ meeting to elect the new Senior Director on 27th December to be exact.”

_________ _ _ _ _ _

“That’s useful information, thank you,” Nayeon could not read a trace of sarcasm in Tzuyu’s voice, this girl was a portrait of reticence.

_________ _ _ _ _ _

Tzuyu continued, “Sana has plans to back the current Director of Customer Services Kim Joo Sung to be the next Senior Director. There’s some competition with Director of R&D Jo In Pil. At the moment we hold 8% shares in _Palette _and are on good terms with a few other shareholders who would follow Sana’s lead. But we need to push our shares up by another 5% to win the vote.”__

___________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Why does she need Kim Joo Sung specifically? Your sister gave me a whole lot of moralising crap but wants to back that old snivelling pervert for a promotion? He preys on interns everyone knows that!”

___________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“We are aware of his… unsightly pursuits. Sana has plans for Kim Joo Sung, and they’re not necessarily… in his favour,” Nayeon scowled at the usual Minatozaki game of mystery that she was starting to get really irritated by.

___________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“I know this is frustrating and you deserve to know what your work would contribute to but Sana told me that she will tell you personally very soon,” Tzuyu paused and softened her expression a little, “My sister likes to play a game of trust with the people she intends to work very closely with. She… doesn’t mean to be an asshole, I grew up with her, I would know.”

___________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“So you want me to find you 5% of shares within less than a month? I mean… for starters, that isn’t possible. _Palette _’s undisclosed company by-laws specifically disallows selling of shares a month prior to internal elections, for the precise purpose of preventing plans like what you guys are proposing.”__

_____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Well, that is another piece of useful information that we didn’t know. But you said a month, if they call elections on the 27th… we still have three days.”

_____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Who would be convinced to sell their shares in three days? That just looks shady as hell.”

_____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Someone desperate. What about _Bosun Electronics _? They suffered and are still not recovering from the stock crash in June, they’re on the brink of bankruptcy.”__

_______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“They’re desperate to _hold on _to whatever shares they still have, not sell them!”__

_________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“That’s only because they still think these shares are promising, and also because they think their only option is to avoid bankruptcy.”

_________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Nayeon paused and pondered at Tzuyu’s words. “We need to give them reason to file for bankruptcy.”

_________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“That is your assignment. On top of that, choose _us _to take their shares.”__

___________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Nayeon began scanning her memory of what she knows of _Bosun Electronics _. The most important lesson that she had learnt in her six years of corporate experience, is that companies are just people who put their signatures on some papers. And people have lives, weaknesses, fears, soft spots. Doing business isn’t about counting money and drafting contracts, it’s about manipulation.__

_____________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“The surest way of getting a company to fold is to put someone’s personal assets at risk. And by my knowledge I can be sure that _Bosun _’s CEO already has thrown in his own money to keep his company afloat. First thing is to convince _Bosun _that _Palette _’s directorial election would down their stocks and not boost it, leak some of Kim Joo Sung’s sex scandals to the media and convince _Bosun _that he would win anyway. That would scare _Bosun _into thinking they’ll take another hit if they’re still in _Palette _’s pants.____________

________________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Part Two is to attack the CEO himself, in person, because his people might still be rational, but _he _would already be shitting his pants, that makes easy game.__

__________________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Part Three is to give him a way out after filing for bankruptcy. Because if they have nothing to lose, they won’t lose whatever is left for you. Is Minatozaki willing to throw in at least 3% for _Bosun _’s reorganisation and bailout plan to help revive them after?”__

____________________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Tzuyu nodded in approval as she said, “It’s a sound plan, I could run it by Sana and see if she’s ok, but what if we can’t give the 3%, do you have a back up?”

____________________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Another option is a government bailout, they won’t bail companies out unless they hold enough industrial weight or if they have a promising product that they are about to but unable to launch. I’m sure Minatozaki is shareholder for a few other electronic companies, persuade one of them to share a product launch with _Bosun _.”__

______________________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Another good idea, although I think Sana could threaten a few officials into pushing for bailout if she needs to, but of course bloodless business plans are preferred. Thank you for your ideas, you should go and work on finding more dirt on _Bosun _, personal dirt on the CEO preferably. If Sana gives the go-ahead you’ll be in charge of running this plan and Sana will expect you to put Kim Joo Sung in that Senior Director chair on the 27th.”__

________________________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Understood, can you give me the files of all the electronics companies that Minatozaki holds shares in?”

________________________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Sure thing, I think that concludes our meeting. It was a pleasure meeting you Nayeon, I think you’re just up Sana’s lane, you’ll be a valued member of MAFIA.”

________________________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Nayeon shook Tzuyu’s hand and got up from her chair with a tingling in her cheeks. It’s been way too long since she had exercised her scheming brain. All these years doing accounting work, adding numbers and filing records, she’s been rotting. She shook her head lightly at the fact that she was pleased by a schoolgirl’s praise but could not ignore the thrill in her gut.

________________________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

As Tzuyu led her through the office, a scowling middle-aged lady, hair frizzy and unkempt stormed towards them.

________________________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Hey! You tell your sister to learn some goddamn respect. I may just be an employee but she’s got no right to treat us like dirt!”

________________________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Ms Lee, calm down, why don’t you tell me what is wrong?”

________________________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“She deleted my entire proposal from the company database and said a dog could do better! I worked two weeks to make that proposal and she just deleted it?!"

________________________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Ms Lee, if this is for the _Kyungwan _Renewal plan, did you cover the reimbursement deal that Sana specifically said we must have?”__

__________________________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“I- It is in there but-”

__________________________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Ms Lee, the reimbursement deal is extremely crucial, any proposal without proper plans for that isn’t helpful for the company. I understand that what Sana did was unnecessary, but why don’t you just try and get something better out, I’ll ask Mr Jung to work with you on it ok?”

__________________________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Ms Lee glared at Tzuyu for a few minutes before stalking away, breathing heavily.

__________________________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Nayeon looked at Tzuyu’s unruffled expression, “You handled that pretty well for a girl in her school uniform.”

__________________________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Tzuyu looked at Nayeon, registering the typical gaze of an adult at a child, refusing to show an ounce of frustration at the usual treatment. “Ms Lee would have gone away and did her work anyway, if she really wanted to threaten she would go straight to Sana’s office but nobody does that. They come to me for someone to apologise and ask them to go back to work.

__________________________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“My sister, she um… she is powerful and smart and she does things… _her _way. She likes being rude and scaring people into doing things for her. It works, because she’s good at finding out what they’re scared of. But sometimes it takes so much effort and bloodshed. Efficiency is so much cleaner. Over the years of being Sana’s unofficial HR expert, I’ve learnt that one of the qualities of a good businesswoman,” Tzuyu turned and looked at Nayeon in the face, “is _tact _.”____

_____________________________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Tzuyu looked away and ahead, continuing their journey towards the exit, her strides graceful and quiet.

_____________________________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Nayeon gazed after the young girl, impressed and realising why the employees here never blinked at eye at her, treating her as their rightful superior. She seemed to know things that her sister didn’t.

_____________________________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

She seemed to know things that Nayeon, at that age, when she was feisty, and reckless, didn’t.

_____________________________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _


	7. Chapter 7

Dahyun's eyes were blurring over the flashing scroll of images before her. A double-paged screen, two roads side-by-side bathed in a tint of blue, yellow orbs of streetlight lining them, and occasionally, a flash of two dots that were headlights passing though these roads.

The process was a methodical pain in the ass. Press FFW, wait for two blinking headlights, press PAUSE, enter the carplate number into the excel sheet, repeat.

"13 가 3413"

"15 서 5918"

"45 라 4823"

These two screens were CCTV recordings of the only two roads that led directly to the safehouse/brothel. The safehouse itself was, well.. safe; it led to a dead-end and had no CCTV within two miles of it. The only way was to survey the roads that led to it within a wide enough timeframe (she was doing three months from the incident) and sieve out a pattern. Narrow down a list of regular vehicles passing by the area and establish the legality of their purpose. The odd ones out would tell her who actually used the safehouse.

She had been working on this for a good five hours, empty cans of coffee from the vending machine beside her laptop, her tie slack and shirt untuck. Dinner had been forgotten while she typed the carplate numbers in and had excel find her repeated entries. Then she looked up those carplate numbers and looked for any legitimate reason to have been travelling through. They were mostly freight trucks and a few lousy civilian cars.

"23 다 3850"

"81 구 7163"

Dahyun's eyes watered over the little orbs of light on the screen, fighting the exhausting bore and the sting in her eyes as the little dots of light started splitting into more dots and spinning around one another.

knock knock. Two quick raps on the door saved her from dosing off. She bolted up, pressed PAUSE and looked around.

Jihyo was standing by the doorway, holding a familiar and welcoming bag that had the words BONCHON CHICKEN on it.

"You. Need food. And a break."

She sauntered over in her nude-coloured Jimmy Choos, set down the bag of heavenly meat and pushed Dahyun's roller chair away from the workdesk and towards her food with a bump from her hip.

Dahyun would have protested had the aroma of crispy juicy poultry goodness not been so enticing. "Oh Jihyo this is my favourite how did you know??"

"Your Instagram is really very boring. You could at least try not to look like a complete nerd with no social life."

Dahyun grinned at Jihyo and said, "Thank you."

"Just to be clear, I'm not your secretary, I'm just a kind head bitch and you better not think this special treatment would be the norm." Jihyo rolled herself toward the workdesk on another roller chair and scrolled through Dahyun's laptop.

"Good god this is how you're arranging your data? Do you even excel? Sooo inefficient." Without a word she set off rearranging the columns and typing in a few other functions. Dahyun glanced over from her chicken but did not interfere.

"I'm only helping because I'm friends with Uncle Jimmy and he can't lock up this room since you're stuck here being slow as fuck." And with that declaration, Jihyo clicked FFW and waited for two blinking dots.

"Thanks Jihyo, really, I was dying."

\--------------------------------------------------------------------

On usual workdays, when Tzuyu had school and Sana did not have business partners to impress with their wealth, the Minatozaki sisters lived in a more practical but still luxurious apartment in Gangmam. Here in their living room now, Tzuyu sat with her legs pulled up on their velvet couch, examining Sana's expression as she finished her brief to her on Nayeon's plan to bailout _Bosun Electronics _so they would sell them their 8% of shares at _Palette Industries _and secure their vote for Kim Joo Sung to take Senior Director.____

_____ _

Sana sipped on her pink moscato as she mentally calculated the pros and cons. After a few minutes, she said, "I think it's a sound plan. Im Nayeon is living up to her name," she pursed her lips before continuing, "But I don't know anything substantial about _Bosun Electronics _. I don't know who they are, who they work with, who they _sleep _with. It's not safe and this plan HAS to go without a hitch."____

________ _ _ _ _

"That is why Nayeon is going to dig up more information about _Bosun _, I'm sure she has her own connections."__

__________ _ _ _ _ _ _

"We don't have much time though."

__________ _ _ _ _ _ _

"And we don't have much choice, now that we know _Palette _'s secret by-laws would block us from trading shares within 3 days. We have to move on Bosun asap. I told Nayeon to work on whatever she's got overnight."__

____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

"Hmm..." Sana looked into the swirling peachy translucence in her glass as a little crease formed between her brows.

____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

"You shouldn't keep drinking so much you know." Tzuyu gazed in concern at her sister's impeccably made-up face and the silent tiredness that lurked behind.

____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

"It's a brain stimulant Tzuyu..." Sana absentmindedly said as she ran her slender fingers through her brown layered locks. Then after a moment, she shook her head and looked back at her sister, wanting to return the gesture of kindness. "Let's take a break from work, how was school?"

____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

"Boring, I'm doing ok."

____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

"You make friends with friends yes?"

____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Tzuyu raised an eyebrow at her sister's pathetic attempt to make small talk. "Yes that's how friends usually work."

____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

"Right."

____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Sana cleared her throat. They sat in absolute silence listening to the lonely whirring of the air-conditioner.

____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

After another few minutes of awkwardness, Tzuyu offered a little help, "Chaeyoung's started teaching me some basic programming. We're doing JavaScript first which is useful for hacking standard websites."

____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Sana looked up from her glass again, "That's um that's cool! Where'd you find a useful friend like that?"

____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

"I've been friends with Chaeyoung since third grade... And I'm not friends with her because she's useful, I'm friends with her because she's a nice kid."

____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

"Yes of course, I didn't mean.." Sana sighed, putting down the glass and uncrossing her legs to face Tzuyu directly. "I know we work hard to do the things we know should be done because of what we've been through but... I _never _wanted you to- to live like _me _! I do want you to have good, real friends... You know that."____

_______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Tzuyu closed her eyes for a second, "I know. I do have friends, and I try my best to be the same to them."

_______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

She took a deep breath. It's not always the case that she gets to have an honest conversation with her sister, so Tzuyu decided she might as well take a plunge, "Are we really going to kill him? Kim Joo Sung?"

_______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Sana's expression hardened. She sat back into her couch and crossed her legs again. "Why won't you ever let us have a quiet night Tzuyu." She picked up her glass and looked pointedly away from Tzuyu's insistent stare.

_______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

"He has two sons. The younger one is only thirteen."

_______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

"Two sons who study in an elite private school with premium steaks on their school lunch menu while he ruins young women's careers with his nasty perverted hand."

_______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

"You say that while sipping on moscato in a Gangnam penthouse."

_______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

"We WORKED for this Tzuyu! All he did was take his parents' money, buy his way up the company and rape his interns for fun!"

_______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

"If you have such a huge sense of justice then bring evidence to the police! The children will end up just like we did!"

_______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

"Only with millions in their bank account," Sana turned and glared, "God you and your naïve morality. We've already done three. A date rapist. An abusive fiancé. And a sex trafficker. They ALL deserved it.

_______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

"You think the police would do their job? You think even if the police did their job these scum would get what they deserve? They've got money and lawyers who went to expensive schools for the sole purpose of learning how to make women just like Mama look guilty on the witness stand. EVIL has power because the people in 'power' DON'T. The whole system is rigged and we're gonna stop it. All the girls. They follow me and I teach them because we know the truth... men are the real poison."

_______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Tzuyu knew there was no getting through to her sister when the rage was all up to her neck. She got up with her schoolbag without a word and made her way to the door while saying, "I will always be here for you Sana but sometimes, it scares me to see what little I remember of Mama in you."

_______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Tzuyu lets tbe auto-lock door slam behind her, the little beep leaving Sana alone in the soundless apartment, the glass shaking in her tensely gripping fingers.

_______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

\--------------------------------------------------------------------

_______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Dahyun had her sunglasses on and walked along the road with a newspaper clutched in her hand. Surreptitiously, she kept a lookout on the dirty white van parked across the road beside a few low-rise flats while buying a cup of ddeokbokki from a street vendor. The carplate read "72 보 3980".

_______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

After about 20 minutes of waiting, three young women, each clad in the same pink and white European maid-ish uniform came out of the grimy building and got into the van, one of them holding the keys and urging the girls to hurry up as they were going to be late and boss would be scolding them again. One of them who was trailing behind was pale and thin, a worried and exhausted look on her face.

_______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

"Jisoo hurry and get in the car! Everyone's pissy after what happened we can't get in trouble!"

_______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Dahyun got into her own government-loaned Honda and followed the van at a distance. They arrived at a small neighbourhood shopping mall and she followed them to a nail salon bathed in pink deco. There a male manager barked at them while they out on aprons and got to work with a few housewives and ajummas.

_______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Dahyun decided to join the queue, "Hi I need to prepare myself for an important meeting later, can you get me one of your most skillful girls?"

_______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Dahyun was directed to the scared scrawny girl who absentmindedly yet speedily filed her nails into perfect ovals and applied a neat dark red onto them. Dahyun noted that she wore a light layer of BB cream and no lipstick.

_______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

At the payment counter, she spied an employee attendance list by their log books. Purposely handing over a disabled credit card, she waited for the machine to reject if before putting on a face of irritation saying, "Are you sure? I just used it to pay for the cab! Can you check your machine?"

_______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

As the manager fiddled with the wires a little she bent over feigning interest in the functionality of the machine while slipping her hand behind the pile of log books to sneak the slip of employee names and contact numbers into her back pocket.

_______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

"Oh nevermind god try this card instead." She handled the payment and left quickly, dropping a text to Jihyo on the way back to her car.

_______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_There are three of them I can't tell which or if all of them were in it together. But I got their details, will you help me track them down? ___

_______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__Dahyun drove back with a smile of satisfaction at having made progress._ _

_______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _


End file.
